Method for working an auxiliary spectacle lens

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a method for working an auxiliary spectacle lens to be added to the spectacles in use, in more details, pertaining to a technique for efficiently working such lens that is light in weight and easy to be stably mounted in front of the lenses of the spectacles in use. That is to say, this method comprises the steps of opening a slit of a size on a fringe portion of an unworked auxiliary lens made of synthetic resin by means of a shearing tool and tightly mounting a joint piece with a pigeon-eyed hole opened therein or that provided with bent portions to be suspended onto the lenses of the spectacles in use into said slit. Accordingly, this invention enables even an optical shop of a small scale to deal with such working just by obtaining an unworked auxiliary lens made of synthetic resin, a joint piece and a shearing tool of a simple structure.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method for working an auxiliaryspectacle lens, in more details, pertaining to a technique enabling anauxiliary spectacle lens, which is light in weight and easy to be stablymounted in front of the respective lenses of spectacles in use, to beworked in a highly efficient manner. This method is novel in that it canbe easily performed even by an optical shop of a small scale.

BACKGROUND ART

When the spectacle wearers go to the places for some activities orleisures where the sun shines so harsh that they are exposed to strongultra-violet rays contained therein, or when they work for a long timein front of a display of office automation equipment, they try toprevent hazardous rays from penetrating into their eyes, for examples,by overhanging another pair of light-transmission control spectacles onthe spectacles in use which is intended for correction of vision or bysuspending a frame with light-transmission control lenses mountedtherein with clips on the frontal part of the spectacles frame in use.

However, such overhanging of two spectacle frames bothers the wearersbecause it increases the weight of the spectacles as a whole. When saidframe is suspended on the spectacles in use, its weight tends to belopsided to the frontal part thereof, so that the spectacles becomesvulnerable to being displaced from its normal position on the face.

In view of such inconveniences as mentioned above, recently, a pair ofspectacles for correction of vision has been proposed, on the rims ofwhose frame certain number of hooks are provided, on which hooks lighttransmission control lenses are sustained. However, it was not popularamong the users because those hooks look unshapely and turn to bedangerous objects when said auxiliary lenses are removed therefrom.

By the way, a pair of rimless spectacles, on the respective lenses ofwhich holes are bored, into which rod members protruding from a bridgeand bracket endpieces are inserted so as to hold the lenses in place,has been popular among the recent wearers who favor eyeglasses wide inview, light in weight and with a sophisticated design rather than a pairof spectacles whose lenses are held by the rims surrounding them.

With the above rimless spectacles, said clip-type lens frame can not bedirectly suspended on its lenses. All the worse, the overhanging of thespectacles with light transmission control lenses mounted thereon ruinsthe shapely design of rimless spectacles.

Furthermore, recently, a pair of spectacles to improve both far and nearvision which enables the wearers to look at a far sight and to carry outchores at hand without changing the glasses has been favorably receivedby the wearers since a dual focus lens and progressive focus lens with afocus region for far sight and that for near sight integrated thereinhave been developed. However, in addition to the fact that such lensesare very expensive, because their far and near focus regions are narrow,in either cases where the conventional spectacles of such type is usedto look at a far sight and used to do chores at hand, for example,reading, due to narrowness in its effective field of vision, especiallyin the latter case, it causes strains of the eyes, so that when they dochores at hand for a long time, they could not help wearing a pair ofspectacles exclusively used therefor and when they look at a far sightfor a long time, driving, for example, they could not help wearing apair of spectacles exclusively used therefor.

In view of the above-mentioned inconveniences encountered when thewearers want to add other optical functions to the spectacle lenses inuse or switch those lenses with other types thereof, the presentinvention is to provide a new method for efficiently working anauxiliary spectacle lens which is light in weight and is easy to bestably mounted in front of the respective lenses of the spectacles inuse.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The means adopted in this invention to solve the above issues is asfollows.

That is to say, it is characterized in that an auxiliary spectacle lensis worked by opening slits of a certain size on the fringe portions ofan unworked auxiliary lens molded of synthetic resin and inserting jointpieces into those slits, by way of which pieces, this auxiliaryspectacle lens is mounted on the respective lenses of the spectacles inuse. It enables a function inherent in sunglasses, an infrared raystransmission control means for office automation equipment and a meansto improve the wearers' sight for doing chores at hand to be added tothe spectacles in use. In order to hold an auxiliary spectacle lens inplace against the spectacles in use by means of said joint piece, forexamples, said auxiliary lens is mounted onto the spectacles in use byinserting a pigeon-eyed hole opened in said joint piece into aprojecting portion of the spectacles in use or by providing a bentportion having a hook member thereon with said joint piece.

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the invention is describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 to 6 are views for explaining the first embodiment of thepresent invention, of which FIG. 1 is an explanatory view to show anauxiliary lens obtained by the first embodiment thereof mounted onto theU.S.patented invention under the registration No. 5,585,870 belonging tothe applicant titled “a rimless spectacles with its lenses supported andclipped at three points”; FIG. 2 is a perspective view to show slitsopened on the fringe portions of said auxiliary lens; FIG. 3 is a partlyenlarged perspective view to show a joint piece with a pigeon-eyed holethereon mounted onto said slit; FIG. 4 is a partly enlarged perspectiveview to show a joint piece with an extended arm and magnet providedthereon mounted onto said auxiliary lens; FIG. 5 is a partly enlargedside view to show said auxiliary lens mounted to the spectacles byattaching said magnet onto the proximal end portion of the temple; FIG.6 is a partly enlarged side view seen from the proximal end portion ofthe temple to show the state where said auxiliary lens mounted to thespectacles; FIGS. 7 to 9 are views to be used for explaining the secondembodiment of the present invention, of which FIG. 7 is a brokenperspective view to show said joint pieces inserted into the slits andhook members inserted into said joint pieces, said members being coveredwith sleeves; FIG. 8 is a sectional view of said joint piece to show howthe hook member is inserted into the former; FIG. 9 is a brokenperspective view to show the state where an auxiliary lens obtained bythe second embodiment mounted to an ordinary spectacles whose lenses areenclosed with the rims.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(FIRST EMBODIMENT)

Reference number (1) in the drawings indicates an unworked auxiliarylens molded of acrylic resin containing light transmission controlpigment, which resin in the present embodiment contains a well-knownultra-violet rays absorbing compound.

Reference number (2) in FIG. 2 indicates a shearing tool of pliers type.A cylindrical pin (21 a) to abut a target portion of said unworkedauxiliary lens to be punched through, which target portion beingindicated with a cross mark in FIG. 2, and a horseshoe shaped punchingtooth (21 b) are provided on the inner surface of an upper jaw (21)thereof. On a lower jaw (22) to be engaged with said upper jaw, ashearing aperture (22 a) is provided in response to said tooth (21 b).

On the right and left fringe portions of the unworked auxiliary lens, bypositioning a target portion thereof to be cut with said pin andpunching the same, slits (11) are provided.

Then, into one of the slits, a joint piece (3) of horseshoe shape with apigeon-eyed hole provided therethrough as shown in FIG. 3 is inserted,which joint piece is integrally made of hard synthetic resin (acrylicresin) by injection molding. At the tip end portion of said joint piece,a pigeon-eyed hole (31) is provided and on the whole circumference ofboth fringe sides thereof sandwiching said tip end portion, a groove(32) of a size to adapt the thickness of said auxiliary lens isprovided. Therefore, by inserting said joint piece through its grooveinto the slit, the former can be just fitted into the latter.

Into the other slit, a joint piece with a pigeon-eyed hole providedtherethrough as shown in FIG. 4 is inserted, thereby, the unworkedauxiliary lens being arranged in the form of an auxiliary lens (A). Inthe present embodiment, two types of joint pieces are used as shown inFIGS. 3 and 4. The main body portion of the joint piece as shown in FIG.4 has the same configuration as that as shown in FIG. 3. The differencestherebwteen are in that the latter has an extended arm (33) formed of awiring material made of a super elastic alloy (based onnickel-titanium), which arm bends and extends rearwards from the edgeportion of the rear end of the joint piece, and the protrusive end ofsaid arm (33) is provided with a magnet (34) made from rare earthelements.

Said auxiliary spectacle lens (A) is arranged so that it is mounted to arimless spectacles described in the specification of the U.S. Pat. No.5,585,870 belonging to the applicant titled “rimless spectacles with itslenses supported and clipped at three points”, the state where thoseauxiliary lenses (A) are mounted to this type of spectacles being shownin FIG. 1.

Namely, as shown in FIG. 1, a pin (P) of the bridge (B) projects fromthe ocular side of the respective lenses (L) of the spectacles (G)towards the frontal surface thereof while a pin (P) of the bracketendpiece (E) extending from the proximal end portion of the temple (T)projects from the ocular side thereof towards the frontal surfacethereof. The former pin is inserted into a pigeon-eyed hole (31) of thejoint piece without being provided with an extended arm while the latterpin is inserted into that of the joint piece provided with such arm.Then, the magnet (34) provided at the protrusive end of the extended armis attached to a magnetic metallic portion (M) of the proximal endportion of the temple. FIG. 5 shows this magnet attached onto saidmetallic portion.

That is to say, the magnet mounted to the distal end portion of said arm(33), as shown in FIG. 5, is attached onto the metallic portion (M)(comprising a magnet of polarity reverse to the magnet of the arm)disposed on the proximal end portion of the temple. In this way, themounting of those auxiliary lenses to the spectacles becomes verystable, as shown in FIG. 6, so that there is no possibility that theydrop even if they are subjected to strong vibration.

(SECOND EMBODIMENT)

FIGS. 7 to 9 show the second embodiment of this invention. An auxiliaryspectacle lens worked by this embodiment is appropriate for beingmounted to an ordinary pair of spectacles the lenses of which are heldby the rims (R) surrounding them and are intended for improving a farsight of the wearers.

Namely, reference number (1) in FIGS. 7 to 9 indicates a pair ofunworked auxiliary lenses to be disposed in front of the frontal surfaceof the respective lenses of the spectacles in use (G), in thisembodiment, a narrow focus lens is adopted for said unworked auxiliarylens in order to add stronger degree of correction to that of thespectacle lenses (L). This facilitates the wearers of advanced ages todo chores at hand. A slit (11) is provided on the upper fringe portionof this auxiliary lens and another slit is provided on the lower portionthereof by means of a shearing tool (2) substantially of the same typeas used for the first embodiment. The tool (2) to be used in thisembodiment is arranged so that it can form an enlarged portion (11 a) atthe bottom portion of the slit, which portion is a little wider than theremaining part thereof.

Reference number (3) indicates a joint piece made of synthetic resinwhich is mountable into the respective slits of said auxiliary lens andin which an opening (30) is formed to receive a projection (41) of ahook member (4) as described below. In this embodiment, a groove (32) toreceive the inner circumference of the slit is notched from the tip endportion of the joint piece over the fringe sides thereof, which grooveis formed shallow at the tip end portion of the joint piece so as tocoincide with the enlarged portion (11 a). At the bottom portion of theopening (30), an enlarged portion (30 a) is formed as shown in FIG. 8.

Reference number (4) in the drawings indicates a hook member, on theproximal end portion of which a projection (40) to be mounted into saidopening (30) is provided and on the distal end portion of which a bentportion (41) to be hooked onto the rims of the spectacles (G) isprovided. The hook member of this embodiment is as shown in FIG. 7, theprojection and bent portion of which are integrally formed of a stringof metallic material by doubling back the same so as to define a hairpincurve. The tip end of the projection (40) is formed in circular shape sothat it coincides with the enlarged portion (30 a) of said opening (30).To note, the bent portion (41) is covered with a protection sleeve (S).

Reference number (5) in the drawings indicates a bridge member on bothsides of which a pair of hook members are connected, by way of whichhook members, a pair of auxiliary lenses (1) are symmetricallyjuxtaposed to each other. The bridge member embodied in the presentinvention, as shown in FIG. 7, communicates with the end portion of theprojection (40) of said hook member, so that those members areintegrally formed of a string of metallic wire.

According to the method of this embodiment, the hook members are mountedonto the upper portions of a pair of auxiliary lenses (1) while thoselenses (1) are symmetrically juxtaposed with regard to the frontalsurface of the spectacle lenses just by mounting a joint piece into therespective slits (11) and then thrusting the projections (40) of saidhook members disposed on both ends of the bridge member (4) into theopenings (30) of the joint pieces while the hook members are mountedonto the lower portions of the lenses just by thrusting the projectionsof the hook members into the openings of said joint pieces tightlymounted into the lower slits so as to elastically deform the same.

The auxiliary spectacle lenses (A) worked in this way are easy to bemounted in front of the lenses (L) of the spectacles (G) in use bysuspending the bent portions (41), (41), (41) and (41) respectivelycovered with a protection sleeve (S) onto the rims (R) and (R) with thebridge member extended to some extent so as to be elastically deformed.

With the auxiliary spectacle lens worked by the method of thisembodiment, as the hook members to be hung onto the rims of thespectacles in use are tightly mounted into the joint pieces insertedinto the slits, even if external force is applied to the overhung lens,the joint pieces readily absorb such force, so that there is nopossibility that such force is directly applied to the auxiliary lenses.Therefore, even if external force should concentrate on such lens, itdoes not occur that it is easily broken as in the case of the priorequivalents.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, as the projection (40) of the hookmember to be mounted into the opening of the joint piece is made of ametallic wire which is bent to define a hairpin curve, it also serves asa shock-absorber so as to readily absorb such force.

When the auxiliary spectacle lens (A) worked by the method of thisembodiment is provided with an enlarged portion (11 a) at the bottomportion of the slit notched thereon and the tip end portion of theprojection of the hook member is formed in circular shape, it makes itpossible to secure the hook member onto the auxiliary lens, so thatthere is no case where the former easily detaches from the latter.Therefore, it is durable enough to be put into practical use.

With the auxiliary spectacle lens according to this embodiment, when thehook members and the bridge member are integrally formed of a string ofelastically deformable metallic wire by performing the bending operationthereon, it simplifies its structure so as to make it sophisticated andshapely in design.

Moreover, with the auxiliary lens according to this embodiment, when therespective bent portions of the hook members are covered with aprotection sleeve (S), there is no case where those bent portions damagethe lenses (L) of the spectacles in use and this sleeve prevents thosebent portions from disengaging from the spectacles, so that it enablesthe auxiliary lens to be mounted thereon in a stable manner.

The concrete examples of the present invention are substantiallydescribed above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but it isnot limited to the above embodiments, which can be modified in variousmanners within the scope of the accompanying claims. The followingmodified examples belong to the technical scope of the presentinvention.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, an example is shown where a manuallyoperated shearing tool of pliers type is used, but a punching tool maybe also adopted, just provided that a slit (11) can be accuratelynotched on a target portion of an unworked auxiliary lens.

Also, in the first embodiment, an example is shown where a joint piece(3) with a pigeon-eyed hole (31) opened therein is provided with anextended arm and a magnet, which are respectively added to the same as ameans to stabilize the auxiliary spectacle lens against the spectaclesin use. As a means to restrain a pigeon-eyed hole from disengaging fromthe pin, this hole may be sustained onto the pin by formingconstrictions or lugs on the head portion of the pin so as to be pressedinto such constriction. In this respect, this prevention measure may bereplaced with the conventional equivalents as known, where appropriate.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As having been described up to here, according to the method embodied inthe present invention, as an auxiliary lens which is light in weight andstably mounted in front of the spectacles in use is easily worked in anefficient manner by opening slits on the surface of said lenses andmounting joint pieces into said slits so as to insert a part of saidjoint piece into a projection protruding from the lens of the spectaclesin use or hang the same onto the frontal part of the spectacles in use,even an optical shop of a small scale deals with such working just bymeans of an inexpensive shearing tool, so that it reduces fixture andequipment cost.

The auxiliary lens worked by the method of this invention is not bulkyin shape as in the case of the conventional clip-type auxiliary frameand can be carried in a small lens holder, so that it is very convenientto use.

According to the present invention, even an optical shop of a smallscale manages to work an auxiliary spectacle lens which does no damageon the design of the spectacles in use, so that its industrialapplicability is very high.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for working an auxiliary spectacle lenscomprising the steps of: opening a slit of a size on a fringe portion ofan unworked auxiliary lens made of synthetic resin by means of ashearing tool and mounting a joint piece with a pigeon-eyed hole openedtherein into said slit.
 2. A method according to claim 1 wherein saidjoint piece with said pigeon-eyed hole opened therein which is providedwith a magnet extended therefrom to a position through an extended armis mounted into at least either one of the slits opened on bothright-and left fringe sides of said unworked auxiliary lens so as towork an auxiliary spectacle lens which is magnetically attached onto aportion of a pair of spectacles in use.
 3. A method according to claim 2wherein said joint piece with said pigeon-eyed hole opened therein to bemounted into said slit being notched on an auxiliary lens is providedwith a groove of a thickness to coincide with that of said auxiliarylens at a portion thereof to contact said slit, into which groove saidslit is inserted so as to work an auxiliary spectacle lens.
 4. A methodaccording to claim 1 wherein said joint piece with said pigeon-eyed holeopened therein to be mounted into said slit being notched on anauxiliary lens is provided with a groove of a thickness to coincide withthat of said auxiliary lens at a portion thereof to contact said slit,into which groove said slit is inserted so as to work an auxiliaryspectacle lens.
 5. A method for working an auxiliary spectacle lenscomprising the steps of: opening a slit of a size on a fringe portion ofa pair of unworked auxiliary lenses respectively by means of a shearingtool, said auxiliary lens being made of synthetic resin; tightlymounting a joint piece provided with a bent portion to be suspended ontothe respective lenses of a pair of spectacles in use into said slit soas to work an auxiliary spectacle lens which is mounted in front of thelenses of the spectacles in use.
 6. A method according to claim 5wherein the bent portions of said joint piece to be tightly mounted ontoan upper portion of the respective right-and-left auxiliary lenses areintegrally formed with a bridge made of an elastic metallic wire.